@millie210
“Do they think students are, on the whole, more competitive or collaborative?”
This one line points an educational environment important to many students and programs. Some universities are even designing new buildings to specifically address this educational concern because of the recent focus on the project related format and team interaction. Yes, architects are even involved as design can assist, but most of the buildings look much the same.
You will have difficulty picking up on the cultural differences between student populations without interacting with the students themselves. Personalities and social attitudes are not always defined by GPAs or test scores. If possible, an overnight is a good idea for final choice selection.
Tours are more about facilities and are run by selected students. As suggested, pick up the university paper and initiate conversation with matriculating students. If you barge in on a table of four at the student center or snack bar you might get four opinions. Were they open and positive about their university? Why or why not?
We have visited four schools with my younger D. For us it does make a difference because of what she want’s to major in. The studio’s are quite different at the schools so seeing what she would be working with was important to her and when we did web searches and virtual tours, you don’t get to see those. Also, we did our visits on weekends and since she will be further away we were concerned about the schools having enough to do on weekends. Two of the schools were pretty full of activity even though there wasn’t much going on. The third school however, was a ghost town. We hardly saw any students out and about, the parking lots for the dorms were less than half full. The fourth was low on her list but being in state we wanted to at least check it out. After seeing it it is not even on our radar. Looks nice on the virtual tour but after walking around and seeing it and the surrounding area, I told her I wouldn’t pay a dime to send her there and luckily she agreed.
Before the visits the school she ranked number 1 on her list she has said she actually now doesn’t even want to apply. The school that was at the bottom of her list is now her number 1 target and the school she had as second remained second.
I guess visits and their importance are going to be specific to the student and what they want or need.
Exactly thr same same for my son. Hated UIUC. Ugly campus. Obvious deferred maintenance. Dreary. Visited Purdue and thought it was really really nice. Similar size student body but just nicer overall experience.
It’s an exciting time. It’s an opportunity to spend time with your parents or friend. Life goes by fast. All houses have a front door and roof. But it’s still a good idea to take a ride by and a look around. Heck. College costs more than median price of home most places. Would you buy a house sight unseen. Make it fun and keep it in perspective.
Bamamom2021- your PSU/WVU experience was identical to ours. Found WVU to be more outreaching, friendly and organized. And what the heck, I will throw persistent in there as well :). We are from Maryland, so right between the two.
Long time ago around early 80s, I went to Cornell without a visit or research, just because it gave a lot of financial aid and was nearly free, and I was surprised to find out it was really cold, isolated and it belonged to Ivy League. Lol
However the college turned out, I adjusted and graduated.
Some upper class men from HS who already went there told me to apply there because it was a good school, so I did.